26 October 2006

On October 26, 1922 LCDR Godfrey DeCourcelles Chevalier, USN made the first arrested landing aboard the USS Langley, a converted coal collier (ex-USS Jupiter) and the Navy's first aircraft carrier, underway off Cape Henry, VA.

Already an accomplished aviator (Naval Aviator #7), LCDR Chevalier had pioneered the installation of catapults on the Navy's battleships and piloted the first plane to be launched by catapult in 1916. In 1917, he commanded the first naval air station in Dunkerque, France during WW1. In recognition of his aviation and leadership skills he was given charge of 100 aviators-in-training to develop and teach launch and landing techniques from an underway ship. In so doing, he used a variety of methods, to include a barge off Anacostia Naval Base in Washington DC and a turntable, similar to what the British used, at Willoughby Point on the Norfolk Naval Base.

LCDR Chevalier trapped aboard Langley (CV-1) while flying an Aeromarine 39-B (s/n 606). As testimony to the experimental nature of the arresting gear on the Langley, after landing, the Aeromarine nosed over, but Chevalier was uninjured.

The Aeromarine 39-B was one of several aircraft types that were employed aboard Langley. It was built at the Aeromarine Plane & Motor Company, located on the grounds of the Aeromarine Factory Airfield outside of Keyport, NJ.

Subsequent to LCDR Chevalier's trap, the first catapult launch off Langley occurred the following month, Nov 18 when CDR Whiting, was launched in a PT torpedo seaplane carrying a dummy torpedo. Sadly, 4 days earlier, LCDR Chevalier had died of injuries suffered in a crash.

So today, as we contemplate the intricate ballet that constitutes flight deck operations on our carriers, as we benefit from innovations like the Fresnel lens, ACLS, steam-powered catapults, angled decks and the like, let us pause and lift a toast in memory and honor of those who preceded us, flying string-bag kites off a converted collier. If only they could see what they wrought...

23 October 2006

The W2F-1 Hawkeye (later re-designated YE-2) first took flight on 21 October 1960.

We've come a long way to this (E-2C Hawkeye 2000)

And the future looks bright:

Northrop Grumman has completed assembly of the first E-2D Advanced Hawkeye airborne early warning and battle management test aircraft fuselage. System components are now being added into the fuselage structure. This first of two E-2D test aircraft will fly next year. E-2D's will be a key node in the U.S. Navy's operational architecture for the future: Sea Power 21. (Photo Credit: Northrop Grumman)

Of course as we get deeper into the History of AEW series, more will be said of the Hawkeye -- suffice for now to recognize a most significant milestone. How many military aircraft, much less carrier-based, can say they have both been flying in this basic design for 40+ years AND still be in production? -SJS

SJS note: Aircraft, like cars, stoves, televisions and Tickle-Me-Elmo ®, are products of assembly lines – some more massive than others, but the premise is still the same. Build a lot of something to set standards with common assemblies and a uniform product results. Except when it doesn’t. Every one of us who have slipped the surly bonds has encountered that one aircraft that seemed to have a personality all of its own. If you were the MO (Maintenance Department head) you undoubtedly encountered a family of personalities as you surveyed the flight line (or VIDS/MAF board) – I know I certainly did, and sometimes it was a family not even Dr. Phil could have loved – but that is another story…

Sometimes the aircraft arrived fresh from the factory sporting that ‘tude. Sometimes it came later in life at the (mis) treatment of aircrew and or wrench-turners. The E-2 “RAG” (actually the Fleet Replacement Squadron – “RAG” was a hold over from the old days of Replacement Air Groups where nuggets were trained on their Fleet ride and their elders shed the mustiness of shore-based life in anticipation of returning to the salt-air environment), VAW-120, had a bird dubbed ‘Christine.’ True to her name, Christine evenly matched in temperament the subject of Steven King’s novel of the same name after suffering a major fire on deck. In Mech some time back there was the story of an F-14 that wouldn’t fly straight because it had been overstressed and “bent” as a result. Proof came when it went into re-work and measurements taken on one side did not marry up with the other side.

This is the story of a Mark 1, Mod 0 vanilla E-2C, airframe number A057, Navy Bureau Number 160992, and MODEX (side number) 015; the last of a group of 5 E-2Cs purchased in a multi-year procurement and delivered to the fleet ca. 1980. While with her fleet squadron she had the misfortune of having a chock cart encounter the starboard prop while it was turning. The resultant shrapnel punctured the fuselage in several places, severing hydraulic lines and electrical wire bundles, creating a general mess. Fortunately, no one was injured and no fire ensued. Back in Norfolk she was craned off (a not inconsiderable feat given the size of the E-2C) and towed to hangar SP-2 on the NAS side of the base to await decisions on her future. Given the nature of the damage and time/cost to repair, the decision may very well have been to pull all the salvageable items out and scrap it or use it as a flight deck training airframe. Problem was, the Cold War was getting warmer by the day, E-2’s were in high demand and production was pretty well maxed out at 5/year (on a factory tour to pick up a new aircraft YHS was very surprised to see just how much of the aircraft was hand-crafted, which helped to explain why in later years certain panels, wiring harnesses, etc. that *should* have been interchangeable, were anything but…). So – the decision was made to repair the strike damage and get her back to the fleet.

The repair took longer than expected since the pressurized tube was compromised and as 160992 sat in the hangar, she became a ready source for official and unofficial cannibalization. You see, besides E-2’s, parts in general were in very short supply in the early 80’s, a legacy of the extraordinarily lean Carter years. Squadrons returning from deployment with 3 FMC and 1 PMC aircraft would typically find themselves reduced to maybe 1 PMC and 3 NMC (if not 4 NMC) within a week of their return as their sister squadrons pulled parts to get their aircraft up for work-ups. When a plane was down for a certain period of time, its status became SPINTAC – SPecial INTerest AirCraft; at which point it now had to have parts put back in and a monumental maintenance effort to get it back in the air before the clock ran out – it was well and truly a vicious circle.

This is the point our narrative begins; it is early February 1981, 160992 has reached SPINTAC status and has just arrived in VAW-121’s spaces in SP-1. The Bluetails, who had been at sea, underway for 347 days the previous year (most of it off Iran), are scrambling to meet a new requirement – deployment to Iceland to fill the AEW gap left when the AWACS were pulled to fly patrol in Saudi Arabia during the Iran-Iraq war. The “Bear Aces” of VAW-124 were sent packing with very short notice just prior to the Christmas holidays and were subsequently relieved by a combined deployment of two E-2B reserve squadrons, VAW-88 (West coast) and VAW-78 (East coast). COMICEDEFOR was manifestly unhappy with the older E-2B’s performance and mission availability and demanding an immediate replacement…we join our young LTJG who is now the QAO division officer and a cruise seasoned E-2C mission commander with close to 800 total hours in the aircraft – 550 of which came on the IO deployment alone (note – typical cruise hours for a 1st tour NFO in 1980/81 was about 200-220 hrs).

Walking into the hangar, collar of his flight jacket (illegally) turned up against the bitter wind blowing off Willoughby Bay, the JG stopped to survey the mad scene that was the bay area of the Battle “E” Bluetails (as they had begun to call themselves). Barely back from months on the IKE on Gonzo station, cruise boxes were once again laid out and being packed for another deployment – this time to Iceland.

Another gust of icy wind ripped at his legs, easily penetrating the Nomex fabric and layer of thermal underwear he wore underneath as if to accentuate the point. Around the corners of the bay, one of four occupied by the other fleet squadrons still in town, the four Hawkeyes with their distinctive blue and white sunburst on the tail stood-out in the mid-morning gloom. One was being prepped to be pulled out to the flightline for a post maintenance functional check flight (PMCF) – his flight. Well, at least there would be some decent airborne time today as this would be the full “C” profile. This profile required full exercise of the weapons system and would give him ample opportunity to continue building his experience of in-flight trouble shooting – a good 4.5 to 5 hours worth if everything worked out right. Of course it would also involve a check of the feathering system on each side so there would be engine shutdowns to account for as well. Best part was he would be alone in the back so there wouldn’t be anyone to stumble over or have to talk through troubleshooting procedures.

Walking into maintenance control he caught snatches of a conversation, behind the MO’s closed door, of what appeared to be a three-way between the MO, MMCO (Maintenance Material Control Officer) and the Maintenance Master Chief. The MO, known as “Dad” or “Pops” by the JOs because of his age and reminders to any and all near by that “when I was in Fudds (E-1Bs) it was a lot different back then…” was audibly upset about something, especially given the frequent “piece of sh*t” liberally sprinkled through his growing tirade. The MMC said something about “those (something, something) wing maintenance (something)” and on the whole, it didn’t sound good. The door nearly fell off its hinges as the MO burst out of the office, visibly redfaced and clenched jawed with his cover jammed down tight as he headed out of the hangar and towards the Wing Twelve headquarters building.

“Geez master Chief, what was that all about?” the JG queried.

“Wing’s trying to shaft us with a SPINTAC that the RAG should have responsibility for; they say that they’re doing us a ******* favor by giving us a fifth airplane” “ ‘and besides’” his voice took on the very familiar tone of the Wing MO, “ ‘You guys are such a sh*t hot outfit anyway you should be able to handle it with no problem’” It was a poorly held secret that there were certain squadrons the Wing MO favored over others and the Bluetails, for all the accolades they were accumulating, were not one of the blessed.

The MMCO, a short, dark warrant noted for his wry sense of humor and fondness for pulling the MO’s chain just rolled his eyes and gave a short laugh. “Yeah, ol’ Pops just about had a stroke when he found out – and you’re not gonna like it either QAO when that POS comes rolling in the door…”

“Umm, well, guess I’ll worry about that later, right now I have a flight to prep for – let me see the book on 011…” And so forcing the thought of what bit of trouble was coming his way into the back of his mind, he turned to the immediate task of reviewing the thick notebook of aircrew and maintenance gripes on AG 011.

Some while later, as he was trying to link together the seemingly disparate gripes on the high-power side of the radar, the door to maintenance control banged open again with the MO's return. Just as he prepared to say something the phone rang.

“MO, it’s the SDO – says Skipper wants your, ahhh, you up in his office ASAP…” said the young airman apprentice behind the desk.

With a furious scowl the MO wheeled around to make the journey topside to the CO’s office. Returning after a few minutes he re-entered maintenance control, this time a little more restrained. In a resigned voice he said that the Wing MO had jammed it up his butt and Skipper had just broken it off – we were getting BuNo 160992 and we had to get it up and flying, period. Not only that, we would have to do it with a skeleton crew left behind from the Icelandic det and eventually fly it up to Keflavik to join the rest of the squadron. Just about then, a plane captain from RVAW-120 showed up at the door asking where we wanted the new arrival. Pointing at the space just vacated by 011, the MMC said to park it over there.

All activity on the hangar bay ceased as BuNo 160992 was slowly pulled into the hangar. In stunned silence the maintenance troops, chiefs and div o’s of the Bluetails watched as it slowly passed, many dropping their gaze and sadly shaking their heads. Across the way, from the open galley in a sister squadron, came hoots of derisive laughter as they saw who had won the SPINTAC lottery.

What sat before their eyes was an E-2, minus both engines with sandbags sitting in the nacelles and in the open nose (where the missing PDS boxes should have been) to keep it on the nosewheel. Several panels, ailerons, and a couple of rudders also were missing. Heaven only knew what the interior looked like. Adding insult to injury was the months-worth of encrusted pigeon droppings covering the exposed upper surfaces of aircraft, from the dome to the (opened) overhead ditching hatches in the cockpit. A tiny trail of hydraulic fluid lay on the hangar deck, marking her passage.

“Somewhere” the JG heard the MO mutter, “somewhere under all that crap is a pony and we have to find it, won’t we Will…” he said looking directly at the QAO.

“Oh great” he thought – “yeah, this is going to be one for the books if it doesn’t kill us in the process…” he replied. Turning to the stairs he headed topside for the brief wondering what other mischief the Fates held in store for him. Somehow, he thought, they’re just getting started…

To Be Continued(Yes, that is Greenland down below -- not too green, eh?)

22 October 2006

19 October 2006

Will be interested to see how this plays out -- similar initiative to have vets salute during the playing of the National Anthem vice placing hand over heart hasn't seen much participation, 'least from YHS' observation.

On another note -- light blogging this weekend as YHS is off to a friend's retirement in Norfolk tomorrow and bundling the clan into car to head off to the mountains for leaf spotting Saturday.

-SJS

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18, 2006 - Leaders of major veterans organizations joined Veterans Affairs Secretary R. James Nicholson here today in launching an effort to "kindle a new spark of patriotism" by asking men and women who have served in the military to wear their medals on Veterans Day.

"We are announcing a 'Veterans Pride Initiative' to remind Americans of the pride and honor in the hearts of those who have served," Nicholson said at a news conference at VA headquarters. "We expect Americans will see our decorated heroes unite in spirit at ceremonies, in parades and elsewhere as a compelling symbol of courage and sacrifice on Veterans Day, the day we set aside to thank those who served and safeguarded our national security."

The campaign is modeled after a tradition in Australia and New Zealand, countries who honor the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps on April 25 each year, VA officials said. Nicholson said he hopes a U.S. tradition will ensue to emulate this pride in being a veteran and in honoring the nation's veterans.

VA is offering information about the campaign on a Web page, http://www.va.gov/veteranspride/, where veterans also can obtain information about how to replace mislaid medals and learn how to confirm the decorations to which they are entitled.

"This is a grand day for the Democratic Peoples Republic Of Korea, whose citizens have sacrificed their wages, their food, and their lives so that our great nation could test a nuclear weapon thousands of feet beneath our own soil," read an excerpt from the statement. "Now the rest of the world must stand up and take notice that the DPRK, too, is capable of decimating years of its wealth at any given moment."

North Korea's announcement would appear to support the CIA's intelligence information on the blast. According to the CIA, over 500 tons of compressed purchasing power, the equivalent of 40 years of goods and services produced by the impoverished country, vaporized in 560 billionths of one second. The device consumed 15 years of peasant wages' worth of uranium, two decades of agricultural- and fishery-export profits' worth for its above-ground emplacement tower, and the lifetime earnings of the entire workforce of the Kilchu fish-canning factory for tungsten/carbide-steel bomb casings.

"A nuclear device that size explodes with the force of 10 to 15 tons of TNT, or a moderately sized economic boom," said Ronald Shimokawa, a physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. "The detonation most likely sent the burning, liquified remains of North Korea's economy deep into the Earth's core."

Across the country, North Korean citizens cheered wildly after learning their nation had violently transformed the equivalent of 2.3 billion hot meals, 11 million housing units, and 1,700 hospitals into their component atoms. Others celebrated by gleaning recently harvested rice paddies for leftover grains.

North Korea

"This fraction-of-a-second blast is what I, and my parents before me, have given up everything to achieve," said tractor driver Chin Lee-Park, whose machine was cannibalized for bomb derrick parts in 1997.

"It is truly a great day for North Korea," added Lee-Park, who then died due to a combination of malnutrition and tuberculosis.

The North Korean government has long been suspected of building up a clandestine stockpile of capital, evidenced by their tendency to shut down national programs that provide its citizens with food, clothing, medicine, shelter, transportation, water, sanitation, education, living wages, and means of communication. A North Korean diplomat defended the decision, saying that citizens "need to make certain sacrifices so their country can afford the basic human right of national security."

International suspicions intensified earlier this month, when satellite surveillance revealed that Kilchu farmers had burned the nation's last remaining wheat field to make room for the test site, that peasant shacks were being dismantled to provide the necessary materials to construct a cradle in which the bomb could be lowered into the ground, and that thousands of starving, near-naked Sangpyong-ri residents were digging an 800-meter vertical underground shaft with wooden rice spoons. In addition, an estimated 75 percent of North Korea's metallurgical wealth and gypsum stockpiles were repurposed for use as stemming materials to backfill the test site's hole prior to detonation.

With the test, North Korea joins an exclusive group of nations that spends a huge percentage of their GDP on nuclear weapons programs.

Yet, despite North Korea's claim that it will proceed with further nuclear testing, the international community is skeptical of whether it has the means to do so, in wake of news over the weekend that leader Kim Jong-Il has authorized the use of the remaining three percent of North Korea's GDP for the construction of six monuments bearing his likeness.

17 October 2006

(comes the time in most every Hawkeye flier's experience when they have to deal face-to-face with the hydraulic failure demon. The Hawkeye has two hydraulic systems -- one to drive the flight controls and another to drive the "auxiliary gear" which includes such minor items as landing gear, brakes, etc. In the event of a failure of the flight hydraulic system, the combined system can be used to drive the flight controls and alternate means, like blowing down the landing gear via compressed air bottle, comes into play. Lose both -- and you're exercising the silk veto ballot. Your humble scribe has probably seen more than his fair share owing to numerous post-maintenance check flights as a PMCF NFO, which has led to some personally memorable encounters with the mysteries of the Hawkeye hyraulic system. Today's recounting, in the true spirit of This is No S*** Tuesday, comes from the pages of Approach magazine, a publication of the Navy Safety Center for the recounting of "There I was..." stories for the education of the rest of the fleet. -- SJS)

It started out as a good deal late morning hop. We would do a round robin to West Virginia and then down through South Carolina as a part of an NFO Stan check. We would be on deck with plenty of time to beat rush-hour traffic and start the weekend off right. Our squadron recently transitioned to the newest E-2C Hawkeye variant - the Hawkeye 2000. My cruise-experienced copilot signed for the plane, but I was the pilot at the controls (PAC). As a cruise experienced Plane Commander and Pilot NATOPS officer, I was comfortable with my knowledge and experience in the aircraft. The CIC crew consisted of two Super Stan checked CICO's and a very junior ACO. Crew composition was a big reason why this is an Approach article and not a mishap report.

About 1.5 hrs into the flight, we noticed a COMBINED HYD LOW LEVEL light on the caution panel with the associated Master Caution light. We immediately asked the CICO to send the RO into the forward equipment compartment to check the slug position in the combined hydraulic reservoir. We did not really think much of it because this light is not uncommon for an E-2 at altitude; usually increased air pressure brings it back into limits during descent. My copilot and I were surprised when the next thing we heard was, "We've got some smoke back here in the FEC, can't really tell where it's coming from." I was sure that we had our signals crossed with the CIC compartment and that they were initiating a typical Stan check FIRE, SMOKE, FUMES OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN drill.

After confirming that it indeed was not simulated, we immediately began stepping through the boldface procedures. As my copilot was donning his O2 mask, I turned the aircraft south toward the closest available divert field (Raleigh-Durham International). With the whole crew on O2, the next step called for attempting to isolate the source of the smoke/fire/fumes. The RO was unable to see from where the smoke was coming and it was getting worse. Accordingly, we immediately secured the vapor cycle and then generators in quick succession, causing the hydraulically powered E-GEN to kick on and power the electrical systems essential for flight.

At this point we had already declared an emergency and were given a clear descent into Raleigh. Unfortunately, we were still 40 miles away and at 19,000 feet. The next words we heard from the CICO made the hair on the back of my neck stand up although at the time I did not know why. "It's coming from the E-GEN," he shouted over ICS. Immediately my copilot and I looked at each other and simultaneously reached for the GEN switches to try and get a generator back online and remove power from the E-GEN. We wanted a generator back on line because without the E-GEN, we would be midnight in the cockpit (admittedly not a huge deal since it was day VMC). At this time, however, my copilot and I did not realize what was coming from the E-GEN. Well, we soon learned that hydraulic fluid was dumping out in "cups" from the front of the E-GEN. Our day was getting more complex by the minute.

I notified the crew of a possible complete loss of hydraulics and prepared them for the possibility of bailout as I leveled the aircraft and shallowed my rate of descent. Now I had to decide between trying to get on deck as soon as possible and trying to put the aircraft in a stable attitude in case the second hydraulic system also failed us and we were forced to bail out.The good news, though only a small comfort to us at the time, was that the smoke appeared to be dissipating in the FEC, though we now had gallons of hydraulic fluid sprayed around the E-GEN shelf. In the NORMAL position with both generators online, the E-GEN still receives a small volume of hydraulic fluid to turn the generator at low RPM. This reduced flow prevents hydraulic shock when the E-GEN is activated. We came to the conclusion that what we previously thought was smoke was actually atomized hydraulic fluid seeping out of the E-GEN. By turning both generators off, we exacerbated this leak by directing the full 3000-psi hydraulic system pressure to the E-GEN. The already deteriorating flow valve failed under this increased strain.

Now 20 miles from the field, we at least had the problem pinpointed. We had a complete combined hydraulic failure. Luckily the E-2 has two separate hydraulic systems and both of them provide power to the flight controls. However, we would have to rely on the emergency mode of operation for the landing gear, flaps, and brakes and would not have the use of nose wheel steering. Oh, by the way, Raleigh does not have arresting gear. Grrreat!!The flight hydraulic system seemed to be holding fine, though the flight controls were significantly more difficult to manipulate, almost like the BOOST OFF condition regularly practiced in T-2s in flight school.

After electrically lowering the flaps and blowing down the gear with a nitrogen charge, we were set for landing with "three down and locked" by 4 miles. In order to ensure we had brakes upon landing, I set the brakes into the aux position. With the brakes in aux, we have 15 applications available: 12 for the toe brakes and the remaining 3 reserved just for the PARKING/EMERGENCY brake. Upon landing, I initiated full reverse and all was normal until I realized that I had no aux brake applications and was still going 40 knots passing the three board. Sure, you are thinking, "He's still got plenty of time to stop," but a 48,000-lb E-2 is not going to stop in that distance using only reverse thrust. My copilot had already tried his brakes and backed me up on my procedures so our only recourse was to use the PARKING/EMERGENCY brake and hope we had the three remaining auxiliary applications as advertised. He smoothly pulled the emergency brake, and we skidded from 25 kts to full stop midway between the one and two boards. Safe on deck.

Not wanting to waste any time getting out of a plane with residual smoke and/or atomized hydraulic fluid, we turned the generators off and pulled condition levers to ground stop. Imagine my surprise when nothing happened! The ground stop position of the condition lever sends an electrical signal to shut down the engines, but because we turned off our generators and had no emergency generator, we were midnight in the cockpit. No electrical signal from the condition levers to the engines, no fuel chop. I quickly reached for the L GEN switch and flipped it on as my copilot went to feather on the right engine. The engines immediately began to spool down, whew!!

What did I get out of this experience besides an unplanned cross-country without a duffel bag? A bounty of valuable lessons:

Always confirm whether a procedure is "simulated" or "actual" before you go to GQ (or not).Positively determine to the best of your ability which emergency you have and make sure the whole crew is on the same page. In this case, we were initially unsure whether we had a combined hydraulic problem (due to the light in the cockpit) or smoke/fire/fumes. In the case of a compound emergency, always go with the one that poses the more imminent threat. Smoke or fire in the E-2 is a very insidious problem, the lessons learned from past mishaps are written in blood.

Good CRM and a thorough preflight NATOPS brief enabled our crew to execute multiple procedures during the emergency. As briefed, the pilot turned towards the nearest suitable field, the copilot declared an emergency and backed the pilot up, and the CIC crew insured we were stepping through the checklist and continually updated us with the status of the situation in the FEC.

Emergency modes of operation for hydraulic subsystems are just that. They take longer, and may not work as advertised. Emergency brakes are supposed to allow for 12 toe brake and 3 emergency brake applications in the AUX mode. In this case I had about one and a half toe brake applications before they were useless. Since reverse thrust becomes ineffective as the aircraft decelerates, we were forced to use the parking/emergency brake as a last resort. This could have resulted in blown tires, fused brakes, or even a brake fire. Luckily, all we had to show for it were flat spots on the main mounts and rubber skid marks on the runway.

Just because you are stopped on the runway does not mean you can turn off your brain. Obviously, we were going to be midnight in the cockpit with the generators off, but we were eager to get out of the plane and forgot that the engines would not shut down via our selected method. We should have either used another method to mechanically secure the engines or left one of the generators on.

Just because a field is suitable for landing does not mean that it is going to be smooth sailing once your get there. We wanted to get the plane safe on deck as soon as possible. In this case that meant taking it to a field without arresting gear, support equipment (i.e. a huffer and a tow bar), proper security, or even appropriate load bearing strength for our single-wheeled main mount aircraft. Fortunately, we were able to rustle up the resources and the airport was very understanding of our predicament.

Finally, always bring a bingo bag with a change of clothes and some toiletries; you never know where you will end up on a round robin.

Amidst the angst and hyperbole following the NORK's (failed) nuclear test, comes the first real fallout -- another "state" seeking its rightful place among the larger and more established residents in the blogosphere...

Announcement of Glorious Nuclear Achievement to Gangster Stooges of BlogosphereGlorious Launch of the People

In the back yard of scientific researchings behind the Great Storage Shed of the People, Iowahawk scientists successfully conducted above-ground nuclear missile test explosions under secure and many malt liquor conditions on early hours of October 10, 2006, at a stirring time when alarm clocks of the neighborhood have yet to clangle.

10 October 2006

(SJS: From the Able Dog website -- the story may have taken place in 1950, but I have a sneaking suspiscion that there are more than one of us who can readily identify with some parts herein...oh, and the hearing test we all *so* love to do with each annual physical, especially in our, um, "seasoned" years? Well, check out the section on radio nav below.)

You Do What You Gotta DobyJim Patton & Frank Bonansinga

It was a lovely Sunday morning, 14 May 1950, when we departed NAS Norfolk in a section takeoff with a pair of Turkeys (TBM Avengers), bound for New York and Boston. Former Midshipman aviators, this was our last day to fly while attached to VC-33. Due to be released to inactive duty on 25 June, it was a swan song of sorts, if you can make the mental hurdle from a Turkey to a swan. The squadron had just got a new mission of night attack and was slated for brand-new AD's with an upcoming move to NAS Atlantic City, which left 8 of us boot Ensigns (ex-Midshipmen) in limbo for the 6 weeks remaining until separation. Anyway, there the two of us were on one last cross-country.

We dropped our passengers at NAS Floyd Bennett and lumbered on to NAS Squantum, where we had lunch with Frank's mother at the O-Club. Then, back to Floyd Bennett in late afternoon, to pick up our passengers. Mine was an Army Colonel from the War College in Norfolk. Weather forecast was CAVU all night along our route to Norfolk. We left around dark, and things were fine until somewhere in Delaware. POW! Suddenly there was fog obscuring the ground and quite a bit of klag up higher. Calling to check weather, we found that the bad stuff had quickly formed all up and down that part of the coast. Patuxent, Atlantic City, Philly and Norfolk were all socked in. The only place that wasn’t zero-zero was NAS Chincoteague, about 70 miles north of Norfolk on the coast, and it wasn't much better, 400 to 500 with fog. When contacted, they said they were closed and the GCA crew had gone home and the lights were out. We advised it was them or nothing and our fuel was getting sort of low, and got the old familiar response, "Stand by". We told them we were inbound on Amber 9 Airway maintaining VFR (ha ha!) and were cleared to hold on the north leg of NKZ, the Chinco radio range, 227 kc on the coffee grinder. After awhile, Chinco cleared us for individual radio range approaches. The letdown and procedure turn was on the east leg, out to sea, which meant no obstacles were poking up, but it sure was black out there. We were in cloud most of the way down; visibility at the surface was nil, maybe 1/4 mile, but we both made it OK. Jim's forward instrument panel lights flickered on and off, which called for occasional use of the Mae West flashlight. Why be just a little excited when you can have a real thump-thump? Felt good taxiing in to the ramp, even with feet jittering on the pedals.

There are different states of being, like sort of wanting a drink and REALLY NEEDING one. We qualified for both, and the passengers did, too, maybe more so. The sidewalks were rolled up and the doors locked at the base, but Col. Nelson, our Army passenger, did a masterful job of gently pulling rank, so that we dined on beer, chips, and pickled eggs at the O-Club. Nothing ever tasted better.

We'd filed an RON report with the squadron; next morning when the fog burned off we flew on in to NAS Norfolk. Our skipper, CDR Robin Lindsey, was quite a guy; a much-decorated LSO from days on the USS Enterprise in WWII, he was a good aviator and the smoothest signal officer we'd ever flown on. He was amused at our story and really surprised us by ordering that we each were immediately to be given a WHITE CARD check flight, even though we were officially off flight status in the squadron by that day, 15 May. Lt(jg) Frank Wickenheiser gave the flight checks, which we passed. There were a couple of bull Ensigns in the squadron who may have had White Cards, but Patton and Bonansinga were the only ex-Midshipmen to achieve that distinction.

A couple of notes: (1) In those days (for single-engine), there were 3 types of instrument cards: Completion of flight training got you a RED card, with minimums only a little lower than VFR; the WHITE card was earned after a couple years' seasoning in your squadron and had lower minimums, something like 600 and 1; finally, the GREEN card was a mark of prestige owned by only a few very experienced birdmen and authorized you to be your own clearing authority. Guts to open, and to explain to Air Force Operations Officers that you didn't need his signature. (2) Compared to 50 years ago, contemporary aviators have to know a lot more procedural details and deal with more information alternatives and controls, but my God, navigation is one helluva lot easier now. We were in an all-weather squadron and the only help you had stateside was a coffee grinder for tuning the single aural low frequency range (which often disappeared in precip static) and dead reckoning. On VFR nights it was great to have those airway beacons stretching out in front of you but in bad weather they weren't that much help. Once in a great while you'd be lucky enough (in the TBM or AD) to have an operational radar and a proficient operator in the bilge, so that you could receive radar beacons at Naval Air Stations. At sea, if not on an operational exercise, there was the aural 12-sector VHF navaid, codenamed "mother". Oft-repeated question: "Is mother putting out tonight?” In its wisdom, the Navy restricted the use of the ADF Birddog to jets and multis. We had some electronics wizards in the radio shop; they cobbled up an ADF and installed it in one of our AD's. Word from above the squadron level: "Rip it out. Now! Not an approved installation". One of the pilot proficiency requirements, long before the Green Card check, was to sound confident when reporting to ATC at an intersection. Bear in mind that this was usually an intersection of two low-frequency range legs, and you had one coffee grinder. The rules: You had to be accurate within 3 minutes on all your ETA's and reporting points. The bottom line amazing thing is that it worked! Only because there were just a few airplanes in the sky, but it worked. There was no enroute radar then and that did make it easier to sound confident at reporting points, but your overall enroute time had to add up.

GCA, on the other hand, was a great success. There were some hotshots in VC-4 led by LCDR K.D. Smith, who made a thing of going out on zero-zero nights and coming back on GCA, kissing on with just enough forward vision to stay on the runway. As with Landing Signal Officers, the skill of the operator was all-important…as well as the pilot.

08 October 2006

1050L 24 Oct 1944. USS St. Lo (CVE-63) is under heavy air attack.After successfully fending off the superior surface force of VADM Takeo Kurita’s Center Force, “Taffy 3” is now defending against a surprise air attack that has lasted some 40 minutes already.One of the features of this attack is the use of suicide attacks.Kamikazes.In the midst of battle, St Lo is struck by a plane flown by Lt Yukio Seki.Penetrating the escort carrier’s unarmored flight deck, the plane and its bomb explode in the port hangar bay, igniting a massive fire with secondary explosions.When the bomb and torpedo magazine detonates, St. Lo is engulfed in flames and sinks 30 minutes later.Barely 6 days later, the carriers Franklin and Belleau Wood were struck by suicide aircraft.Both were forced to retire for repair before rejoining the fleet.This emerging threat, kamikaze attacks, were a hint of what was to come as the Fleet closed on the Japanese homeland.The urgency for getting Cadillac’s capabilities operationally deployed was being underscored by increasing losses in the Pacific...

Development & Production

Recognizing the importance of the Cadillac system, an early decision was made by the Navy to establish production coincident with its development.To be sure, this imparted significant risk to the program, but in light of its benefits this was deemed acceptable.Development was undertaken in earnest shortly after approval in May 1944.Using ground-based radar located atop Mt.Cadillac and operating at low power to simulate the APS-20, work on the airborne elements, particularly the relay equipment was well underway.This arrangement allowed prolonged simulation of the air- and ship-board environment, contributing significantly to the shortened development timeline.

Progress was measured in the completion of each of the 5 developmental sets envisioned.The first set flew in August 1944 – barely 3 months after the approval to begin work was received.Each subsequent system saw incremental improvements over its predecessor with the improvements folded back into the earlier models.By October a full-fledged demonstration was flown for the benefit of USAAF and USN leaders.These demonstrations consisted of 2 aircraft and 1 shipboard set and were flown out of Bedford Airport, Massachusetts.By all accounts, the demonstration was extremely successful, which boded well for the production units, forty of which had been ordered by the Navy in July 1944.

As additional developmental sets were completed, permanent sites were established in Bedford (2) and MIT (1 – originally scheduled for Brigantine, NJ).The latter was established at MIT for the purpose of evaluating the system in the heavy interference conditions expected in the operational environment.It was in this environment that the first major problem was uncovered as the system was found to jam itself – interference was so bad that rotational data as transmitted by the double-pulsed coding and passed over the relay link was virtually completely jammed.An extraordinary effort though on the part of the development team led to a triple pulse encoding scheme.With little time to fully test this new set-up (there was considerable rework in the synchronizers, relay receivers and decoders to be accomplished), the third set was packed off to formal Navy trials at the CIC Group Training Center, Brigantine, NJ that started in January 1945 –only two weeks behind schedule.

In December, at the height of the crisis over finding a means to address the interference problem, DCNO(Air) disclosed to Cadillac team leaders the urgency by which their equipment was required to combat the rapidly growing kamikaze threat.Even though Cadillac was already at the top of the Navy’s electronics development requirements, with the increased need, the Navy made available substantial numbers of officers, technicians, draftsmen and even a special air transport system to facilitate delivery of parts and personnel.

On the production side, a flexible system of generalized target dates were crystallized as designs firmed up permitting incorporation of changes as experience was gained with the development units.To be sure, there were likely gross inefficiencies induced, most in terms of cost, which would be unacceptable in today’s procurement climate.Additionally, anything less than the very high priority Cadillac carried would also have hampered successful completion.Nevertheless, a production schedule was agreed to in June with BuAer that would start deliveries of operational systems with two in February 1945.This was subsequently modified in November for initial delivery of 1 set in March 1945 followed by 4 in April and then 8 per month afterwards.

Operational Testing

Not long after starting operational evaluations at Brigantine, more problems were discovered, centered primarily on interference issues in the shipboard environment.Again, most of us today are well aware of the hazards the witches’ brew of RF in the CV environment entails.Mixtures of high-powered radars operating at different frequencies overlaid with HF, VHF and UHF voice comms provide an extremely challenging environment to develop and deploy a new system, even with the benefit of fifty plus years of experience.Without the benefit of that experience, the roadblocks encountered are not surprising.More modifications were made to the shipboard system with filters to screen out the extraneous radiation.Additionally, as more experience was gained with the APS-20 radar, it was determined that anti-clutter filters were needed to reduce the effect of large clutter discretes from the sea’s surface in and around the immediate vicinity AEW platform (typically out to 20 nm from ownship).

On the west coast, training in the TBM-3W for pilots and crewmen was undertaken by the Fleet Airborne Electronics Training Unit (FAETU) in preparation for deployment.In the meantime, the USS Ranger (CV-4), recently returned from delivering aircraft to allied forces in Casablanca, entered Norfolk Naval Shipyard 17 May 1945 for a six-week overhaul, during which a CIC and the Cadillac equipment were installed.Underway again in July, she arrived at NorthIsland on July 25th where she loaded aboard her airwing.This airwing was different from the conventional wing in that it included several developmental concepts; among these were the Cadillac configured TBM-3Ws and the Night Air Combat Training Unit from Barber’s Point.By August 1945 she was in Hawaiian waters conducting final CQ prior to leaving for Japanese waters when the war ended.

With the end of the war, Cadillac was almost, but not quite completed.While the carrier-based component did not have a chance to prove itself in combat, the utility of carrier-based AEW was so clear and its applications so far ranging in impact that further development and deployment would continue post-war, with deployments on Enterprise and Bunker Hill.In addition to the carrier-based component, a second development was begun under Cadillac II for a more robust airborne capability.That will be the subject for next week’s installment.

1050L 24 Oct 1944. USS St. Lo (CVE-63) is under heavy air attack.After successfully fending off the superior surface force of VADM Takeo Kurita’s Center Force, “Taffy 3” is now defending against a surprise air attack that has lasted some 40 minutes already.One of the features of this attack is the use of suicide attacks.Kamikazes.In the midst of battle, St Lo is struck by a plane flown by Lt Yukio Seki.Penetrating the escort carrier’s unarmored flight deck, the plane and its bomb explode in the port hangar bay, igniting a massive fire with secondary explosions.When the bomb and torpedo magazine detonates, St. Lo is engulfed in flames and sinks 30 minutes later.Barely 6 days later, the carriers Franklin and Belleau Wood were struck by suicide aircraft.Both were forced to retire for repair before rejoining the fleet.This emerging threat, kamikaze attacks, were a hint of what was to come as the Fleet closed on the Japanese homeland.The urgency for getting Cadillac’s capabilities operationally deployed was being underscored by increasing losses in the Pacific...

Development & Production

Recognizing the importance of the Cadillac system, an early decision was made by the Navy to establish production coincident with its development.To be sure, this imparted significant risk to the program, but in light of its benefits this was deemed acceptable.Development was undertaken in earnest shortly after approval in May 1944.Using ground-based radar located atop Mt.Cadillac and operating at low power to simulate the APS-20, work on the airborne elements, particularly the relay equipment was well underway.This arrangement allowed prolonged simulation of the air- and ship-board environment, contributing significantly to the shortened development timeline.

Progress was measured in the completion of each of the 5 developmental sets envisioned.The first set flew in August 1944 – barely 3 months after the approval to begin work was received.Each subsequent system saw incremental improvements over its predecessor with the improvements folded back into the earlier models.By October a full-fledged demonstration was flown for the benefit of USAAF and USN leaders.These demonstrations consisted of 2 aircraft and 1 shipboard set and were flown out of Bedford Airport, Massachusetts.By all accounts, the demonstration was extremely successful, which boded well for the production units, forty of which had been ordered by the Navy in July 1944.

As additional developmental sets were completed, permanent sites were established in Bedford (2) and MIT (1 – originally scheduled for Brigantine, NJ).The latter was established at MIT for the purpose of evaluating the system in the heavy interference conditions expected in the operational environment.It was in this environment that the first major problem was uncovered as the system was found to jam itself – interference was so bad that rotational data as transmitted by the double-pulsed coding and passed over the relay link was virtually completely jammed.An extraordinary effort though on the part of the development team led to a triple pulse encoding scheme.With little time to fully test this new set-up (there was considerable rework in the synchronizers, relay receivers and decoders to be accomplished), the third set was packed off to formal Navy trials at the CIC Group Training Center, Brigantine, NJ that started in January 1945 –only two weeks behind schedule.

In December, at the height of the crisis over finding a means to address the interference problem, DCNO(Air) disclosed to Cadillac team leaders the urgency by which their equipment was required to combat the rapidly growing kamikaze threat.Even though Cadillac was already at the top of the Navy’s electronics development requirements, with the increased need, the Navy made available substantial numbers of officers, technicians, draftsmen and even a special air transport system to facilitate delivery of parts and personnel.

On the production side, a flexible system of generalized target dates were crystallized as designs firmed up permitting incorporation of changes as experience was gained with the development units.To be sure, there were likely gross inefficiencies induced, most in terms of cost, which would be unacceptable in today’s procurement climate.Additionally, anything less than the very high priority Cadillac carried would also have hampered successful completion.Nevertheless, a production schedule was agreed to in June with BuAer that would start deliveries of operational systems with two in February 1945.This was subsequently modified in November for initial delivery of 1 set in March 1945 followed by 4 in April and then 8 per month afterwards.

Operational Testing

Not long after starting operational evaluations at Brigantine, more problems were discovered, centered primarily on interference issues in the shipboard environment.Again, most of us today are well aware of the hazards the witches’ brew of RF in the CV environment entails.Mixtures of high-powered radars operating at different frequencies overlaid with HF, VHF and UHF voice comms provide an extremely challenging environment to develop and deploy a new system, even with the benefit of fifty plus years of experience.Without the benefit of that experience, the roadblocks encountered are not surprising.More modifications were made to the shipboard system with filters to screen out the extraneous radiation.Additionally, as more experience was gained with the APS-20 radar, it was determined that anti-clutter filters were needed to reduce the effect of large clutter discretes from the sea’s surface in and around the immediate vicinity AEW platform (typically out to 20 nm from ownship).

On the west coast, training in the TBM-3W for pilots and crewmen was undertaken by the Fleet Airborne Electronics Training Unit (FAETU) in preparation for deployment.In the meantime, the USS Ranger (CV-4), recently returned from delivering aircraft to allied forces in Casablanca, entered Norfolk Naval Shipyard 17 May 1945 for a six-week overhaul, during which a CIC and the Cadillac equipment were installed.Underway again in July, she arrived at NorthIsland on July 25th where she loaded aboard her airwing.This airwing was different from the conventional wing in that it included several developmental concepts; among these were the Cadillac configured TBM-3Ws and the Night Air Combat Training Unit from Barber’s Point.By August 1945 she was in Hawaiian waters conducting final CQ prior to leaving for Japanese waters when the war ended.

With the end of the war, Cadillac was almost, but not quite completed.While the carrier-based component did not have a chance to prove itself in combat, the utility of carrier-based AEW was so clear and its applications so far ranging in impact that further development and deployment would continue post-war, with deployments on Enterprise and Bunker Hill.In addition to the carrier-based component, a second development was begun under Cadillac II for a more robust airborne capability.That will be the subject for next week’s installment.

(Washington Post 8 Oct 06) NEWPORT NEWS, Oct. 7 -- Despite a steady downpour that chilled thousands gathered Saturday in the shipyard here, President Bush and his father, George H.W. Bush, basked in the warm embrace of extended family and friends as they celebrated the christening of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier named after the former president.

Saturday's ceremony was held at the foot of the gigantic gray bow of the unfinished carrier, in the midst of a rainstorm whose loud claps of thunder periodically startled the thousands of dignitaries, Bush family friends, Navy personnel, shipyard workers and company officials gathered at the Northrop Grumman Newport News Shipyard. "I'm finishing, Lord, I'm finishing," Bush promised, drawing laughs as he glanced up at the sky after one particularly powerful thunder clap.(SJS: I will attest to the general mess Saturday's nor'easter made of things throughout Virginia yesterday -- just thankful it wasn't winter or we'd still be out there shoveling today...)

But the storm did little to dampen the festive mood of the crowd, which included dozens of luminaries from the George H.W. Bush administration, including former secretary of state James A. Baker III, former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin L. Powell, who also served the son as secretary of state. Also in the crowd were four of the former president's fellow pilots who served in the Pacific theater during World War II, as well as dozens of old friends and retainers from a lifetime in politics.

A huge cheer went up from the crowd when Doro Bush Koch, the ship's "sponsor" and the former president's daughter, smashed a bottle of American sparkling wine across the bow of the carrier at the end of the ceremony. The crowd also cheered the two Bush presidents, who seemed delighted. The elder Bush took it all in with an almost boyish glee. Holding Barbara Bush's hand, the former president sang enthusiastically along with tenor Ronan Tynan, who rendered "God Bless America."

George H.W. Bush, 82, is the first living former president to attend the christening of a carrier in his honor, and when it came his turn to speak, he told the crowd: "This is any naval aviator's dream come true."

Bush did allow that he could not say this was the greatest day of his life. He recalled telling Barbara Bush that it was the greatest day of his life when son George was elected governor of Texas and son Jeb governor of Florida -- only to be asked, "What about the day we were married?"

"I would simply have to say," Bush added, to chuckles, "this is, maybe, the third happiest day of my life."

07 October 2006

Project Cadillac was more than just a program to develop radar – it would develop an entire AEW system.Radar, IFF, relay equipment, shipboard receivers, and airborne platform.Such an undertaking would be ambitious enough in peacetime, at the height of a critical stage in the war it bordered on a divine miracle.

February 1944.In Europe the invasion of Italy is well underway and the Battle of Monte Casino engaged.Eisenhower establishes SHAFE headquarters in Britain.The RAF drops 2300 tons on Berlin, the 8th AF begins the “Big Week” bombing campaign and Soviet troops continue the offensive begin at Novgorod and Leningrad.In the Pacific US forces have landed and captured the Marshall Islands and have moved on to Eniwetok Atoll.In the south, MacArthur’s forces have begun Operation Brewer in the Admiralty Islands.The tide, ever so imperceptibly, is turning in favor of the Allies.

In Japan, Commander Asaiki Tamai asked a group of 23 talented student pilots, whom he had personally trained, to volunteer for a special attack force. All of the pilots raised both of their hands, thereby volunteering to join the operation.

In the US, the fruits of scientific research and technological prowess were starting to manifest – high altitude bombers, Essex-class carriers, jet engines, the beginnings of nuclear weapons.At the MIT-RL, proposals were forwarded for an ambitious program to develop an AEW system that would be deployed with the fast carrier forces in the Pacific.It was envisioned that the system would be in pace for the projected invasion of the Japanese homeland, slated for sometime in early 1946.Following a series of meetings with reps from the Navy’s Bureau of Ordnance (BuOrd) the Navy formally requested the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) to establish the project.Ultimately, the project would include 9 of MIT-RL’s 11 laboratories, BuAer, BuShips, NavalAirModificationCenter, Philadelphia, Naval Research Lab, several Navy contractors and Radiation Lab subcontractors and over 160 officers and men.The project was eventually given the code name of Cadillac, the name of the highest mountain in Maine and site of some of the developmental relay work.

CONOPS

As originally envisioned, Cadillac would consist of two sections: one airborne and the other shipboard (see CONOPS illustration).The airborne unit would carry the APS-20 radar, IFF and VHF comms and relay equipment, acting as an airborne radar and relay platform for the ship.Back on the ship, the radar picture from the airborne unit would be relayed via a VHF video data link and displayed on a dedicated PPI (Plan Position Indicator) scope.Communications with far-flung fighter CAP would also be relayed through the airborne unit.Sorting out friend from foe would be via the newly developed IFF or Identification Friend Foe system which relied on an aircraft responding to electronic “challenge” signals with a coded pulse train.The airborne unit would also have the ability to display ownship’s radar picture and have a limited capability to control fighters, but this was planned to be a fall-back capability.

Aircraft. The aircraft chosen was the only carrier-based aircraft large enough to accommodate the 8-foot radome and 2,300 lbs of associated equipment.Stripped of turret, armor, and armament, a TBM-3 Avenger served as the initial platform for Cadillac.Besides the Cadillac equipment, the XTBM-3W was modified to include an engine driven high power generator, additional tail stabilizers, addition of a crewman position in the aft fuselage and over 9 separate antennas on the fuselage, tail, and wings.

Airborne System.The AN/APS-20, developed as part of the Cadillac program, was a 10cm set that had a peak power output of 1 megawatt and a 2m-second pulse.The design of the APS-20 radar was so sound that variations of this same radar would see use well into the 1960s on a variety of USN, USAF and allied AEW platforms, until it was ultimately replaced by the E-2’s APS-96/120 series among others.The IFF system was built around the AN/APX-13 with a very high power (2 kW) transmitter and one of the most sensitive receivers in this type application.It was designed to enable ID of targets on both the (then) Navy standard A and G bands at ranges comparable to the radar.To “pipe” this information back to the ship, the AN/ART-22 relay-radar transmitter, broadcast the picture back to the ship on a 300 mc frequency.The radar synchronizer also synchronized the IFF and relay signals, encoding their outputs to ensure reception even in an environment characterized by heavy enemy jamming and intrusion.Remote operation of the airborne system from the ship was made possible by the AN/ARW-35 receiver, AN/ARC-18 shipboard relay and the use of a modified flux gate valve to stabilize and orient the radar display to true North (ed. note – not altogether different from the system that was used in the E-2 almost 2 decades later).All this, of course, was in addition to the usual compliment of voice comm., IFF, and flight/navigation gear.Space, as one can see from the cutaway, was at a premium, even in the large-bodied Avenger.

Shipboard System.The shipboard system primarily consisted of relay (which included omnidirectional or a horizontal diversity receiver), decoding, and shipboard signal distribution equipment.The signal was passed to 2-3 PPI scopes, located in CIC.In CIC, the picture was merged with that of the ship in a manner that eliminated motion induced by the AEW platform – in other words, a ground-stabilized picture oriented to true north.That picture could be expanded to a 20nm view for detailed examination of sectors of interest.When tied together with voice communications, the implications of this capability were astounding.

Let us step back for a moment and review what the CONOP and “to be” Cadillac system would provide.Expanded radar coverage, in theory out to 200 nm.Positive identification of friendly aircraft in that volume of surveilled airspace.The ability to effect positive control of interceptors well closer to expected enemy marshalling points.Detect and track friendly and hostile surface units (including snorkeling submarines).Finally, the ability to bring all this information together and display it in CIC enabling informed decision-making from unit up to Fleet level.We who have been fortunate enough to have operated in the age of modern AEW aircraft, digital data links and automated detection and display systems take these for granted.It is not until one or more elements are removed that their intrinsic value is appreciated.This was something the Royal Navy painfully re-discovered during the war to reclaim the Falklands/Malvinas.That the concept, much less the hardware and integration of these many disparate elements was conceived and executed in a wartime situation says much about the technical verve and capabilities of this band of naval and civilian scientists, engineers and operators.The process of how this was brought to reality and IOC will be the subject of the next installment.

06 October 2006

Ed note: In 1981 a smart-a$$ LTJG wrote a note to the editor of The Hook bemoaning the lack of VAW articles.Sensing an opportunity, the then editor, Bob Lawson, wrote back challenging the young jg to pick up quill and scroll and “write something!”The gauntlet was accepted and the first comprehensive history of VAW appeared in The Hook’s Summer 1983 issue – and has been roundly plagiarized since in a variety of squadron histories.Over time, your humble scribe has continued research, always on the hunt for original material to add to the story.Beginning with this week’s Flightdeck Friday, I will begin updating that history.Rather than just focusing on a particular platform, this series will endeavor to look at the system as a whole – platform, tactics, threat environment, etc. such that the reader gains an appreciation for the evolution and deployment of this vital capability.Read, enjoy and provide feedback as you see fit – also looking for good sea stories!- SJS

There is an arrogance permeating our culture such that it is widely believed that the (fill in the blank with the latest technological wonder) is (1) fairly recent in invention and (2) anything that preceded was hopelessly crude and unsophisticated, if it even existed or could have been possibly conceived in an earlier age.As serious students of history, particularly technological history will assert though, the degree of inventiveness and technical complexity evidenced by our predecessors is indeed extraordinary, especially when put in context of the extent of knowledge in a particular field at the time.The story of airborne radar, and airborne early warning radar in particular, is one of the signatory lessons in this vein.

Radar was not unknown in the early days of WWII – indeed the story of how the CHAIN HOME radar stations, linked to coordination centers who in turn guided and directed Leigh-Mallory’s “big wing” fighter tactics is well known.The US Navy was already working to incorporate radar into its surface ships to permit gunnery under all weather/day-night conditions and meet navigational needs.Radar “expanded the battle space” (in the current parlance) but soon encountered problems – not the least of which was the curvature of the earth and the haven it provided to low flying aircraft.The solution, raise the radar antenna by mounting the radar to an aircraft, was fraught with a number of challenges.

Chief among those hurdles was the radar wave itself.The early search radars were low frequency (HF-band) with a long PRF (pulse repetition frequency) which provided the necessary range and were generally easy to generate.The down side was the large antennas required.Even later radars with parabolic antennas and operating at higher frequencies still tended to be very large.What would be needed for airborne radar was microwave radar that provided high power with a smaller antenna.Simple in thought, difficult in execution.Yet efforts were underway on both sides of the Atlantic to meet this problem.The solution would be a device called a magnetron.

Simple two-pole magnetrons were developed in the 1920s by Albert Hull at General Electric's Research Laboratories (Schenectady, New York), as an outgrowth of his work on the magnetic control of vacuum tubes in an attempt to work around the patents held by Lee DeForest on electrostatic control. The two-pole magnetron, also known as a split-anode magnetron, had relatively low efficiency. The cavity version (properly referred to as a resonant-cavity magnetron), the path British scientists and engineers were working, proved to be far more useful.

In 1940, at the University of Birmingham in the UK, John Randall and Dr. Harry Boot produced a working prototype similar to Hollman's cavity magnetron, but added liquid cooling and a stronger cavity. Randall and Boot soon managed to increase its power output 100-fold. Instead of giving up on the magnetron due to its frequency inaccuracy (in essence, what the Luftwaffe did), they instead sampled the output signal and synced their receiver to whatever frequency was actually being generated.An early 6kW version, built by GECRL (Wembley, UK) and given to the U.S. government in September 1940, was called "the most valuable cargo ever brought to our shores" (see Tizard Mission). At the time the most powerful equivalent microwave-producer available in the US (a klystron- basically a linear beam tube) had a power of only ten watts.

In the meantime, back in the US, work was underway on electronic relays as a means of extending the range of radar.The idea was to take multiple radars, deploy them at the limit of line-of-sight ranges and link those images into one centralized picture on the flagship.That line-of-sight range, of course, could be extended if the extended range platforms, or pickets, were airborne.As early as 14 Aug 1942, the MIT Radiation Lab (MIT-RL) demonstrated this capability using television equipment borrowed from RCA (actually with assistance from National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) via a contract negotiated with RCA) and an experimental radar on the roof of another building.Further development and refinement led to the successful relay of radar signals to a receiver at EastBostonAirport in May 1943 from an aircraft operating over NantucketIsland at 10,000 ft at a range of about 50 nm.In July 1943, the relay radar, the AN/APS-14 was demonstrated to naval officers at the EastBostonAirport and a short film developed for COMINCH which was subsequently followed with a request to extend the range to 100 nm.

By the end of December 1943 even with the successful extension of range to 100 nm, however, there was no decision to proceed with production of the AN/APS-14 and there was movement to cancel the project.The following month though, the Navy proposed to develop an AEW system that had as part of the set-up, a high-power relay teamed with a high-power, microwave radar (enabled by the British magnetron).MIT-RL was awarded the task and Project Cadillac was underway.

Awards

Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have.

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About Me

Ok, here are the vitals:
* Born in NC, raised a Nebraskan and now a Virginian by dint of marriage, taxes and tution(s) paid/paying (and you thought it was just death and taxes that were universal constants...)
*Blessed with marriage to the same wonderful (and exceptionally tolerant)woman for 24 years w/three great kids (see tuition ref above)
*Graduated from The Citadel, Naval Postgrad School and Naval War College
* Retired as an O-6 after serving twenty-six years in the finest Navy in the world: * Naval Flight Officer & Squadron CO (E-2C Hawkeye - 3500+ hours and 551 traps)
* CVN navigator
* Multiple Joint penance duties in DC and and elsewhere (slow learner)
* Now flying a desk but doing what I can to still help (БУДЕТ наукой ракеты!)